American Civil War(美国内战英文介绍)

1918

1918< /p>

–

1945

1 945

–

1964

< br>1964

–

1980

1980

–

1991

1991

–

present

Topic

Westward expansion

Overseas expansion

Diplomatic history

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and

industrial

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History of the South

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–

1954)

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–

1968)

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v

?

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?

e

The

coexistence

of

a

slave-owning

South

with

an

increasingly

anti-slavery

North made conflict likely, if not inevitable. Lincoln did not propose federal laws

against slavery where it already existed, but he had, in his 1858

House Divided

Speech

,

expressed

a

desire

to

the

further

spread

of

it,

and

place

it

where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate

extinction.

[4]

Much of the political battle in the 1850s focused on the expansion

of slavery into the newly created territories.

[5][6][7]

All of the organized territories

were

likely

to

become

free-soil

states,

which

increased

the

Southern

movement

toward secession. Both

North and South assumed that if slavery

could not expand it would wither and die.

[8][9][10]

Southern fears of losing control of the federal government to antislavery forces,

and Northern resentment of the influence that the

Slave Power

already wielded

in

government,

brought

the

crisis

to

a

head

in

the

late

1850s.

Sectional

disagreements over the

morality of slavery

, the scope of democracy and the

economic merits of

free

labor

versus slave

plantations

caused the

Whig

and

Know- Nothing

Free Soil Party

in 1848, the

Republicans

in 1854, the

Constitutional Union

in 1860). In 1860,

the

last

remaining

national

political

party,

the

Democratic

Party

,

split

along

sectional lines.

Northerners

ranging

from

the

abolitionist

William

Lloyd

Garrison

to

the

moderate

Republican

leader

Lincoln

[11]

emphasized

Jefferson's

declaration

that

all

men

are

created

equal

.

Lincoln

mentioned

this

proposition

in

his

Gettysburg Address

.

Almost all

the inter-regional crises involved slavery, starting

with debates on

the

three-fifths clause

and a twenty-year extension of the

African slave trade

in

the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The 1793 invention of the

cotton gin

by

Eli

Whitney

increased

by

fifty-fold

the

quantity

of

cotton

that

could

be

processed in a day and greatly increased the demand

for slave

labor in the

South.

[12]

There was controversy over adding the slave state of

Missouri

to the

Union

that

led

to

the

Missouri

Compromise

of

1820.

A

gag

rule

prevented

discussion in Congress of petitions for ending slavery from 1835

–

1844, while

Manifest

Destiny

became

an

argument

for

gaining

new

territories,

where

slavery could expand. The acquisition of

Texas

as a

slave state

in 1845 along

with

territories

won

as

a

result

of

the

Mexican

–

American

War

(1846

–

1848)

resulted in the

Compromise of 1850

.

[13]

The

Wilmot Proviso

was an attempt by

Northern

politicians

to

exclude

slavery

from

the

territories

conquered

from

Mexico

. The extremely popular antislavery novel

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

(1852) by

Harriet Beecher Stowe

greatly increased Northern opposition to

the Fugitive

Slave Law of 1850.

[14][15]

John Brown

being adored by an enslaved mother and child as he walks to his

execution on December 2, 1859.

The 1854

Ostend Manifesto

was an unsuccessful Southern attempt to annex

Cuba

as a slave state. The

Second Party System

broke down after passage of

the

Kansas-Nebraska Act

in 1854,

which replaced the Missouri Compromise

ban on slavery

with

popular sovereignty

, allowing the people of a

territory to

vote for or against slavery. The

Bleeding Kansas

controversy over the status of

slavery

in

the

Kansas

Territory

included

massive

vote

fraud

perpetrated

by

Missouri

pro-slavery

Border

Ruffians

.

Vote

fraud

led

pro-South

Presidents

Franklin Pierce

and

James Buchanan

to attempt to admit Kansas as a slave

state. Buchanan supported the pro-slavery

Lecompton Constitution

.

[16]

Violence

over

the

status

of

slavery

in

Kansas

erupted

with

the

Wakarusa

War

,

[17]

the

Sacking of Lawrence

,

[18]

the

caning of Republican Charles Sumner

by

the

Southerner

Preston

Brooks

,

[19][20]

the

Pottawatomie

Massacre

,

[21]

the

Battle of Black Jack

, the

Battle of

Osawatomie

and

the

Marais des Cygnes

massacre

.

The 1857 Supreme Court

Dred Scott decision

allowed slavery in

the territories even where the majority opposed slavery, including Kansas.

The

Lincoln-Douglas

debates

of

1858

included

Northern

Democratic

leader

Stephen

A.

Douglas

'

Freeport

Doctrine

.

This

doctrine

was

an

argument

for

thwarting

the

Dred

Scott

decision

that,

along

with

Douglas'

defeat

of

the

Lecompton

Constitution,

divided

the

Democratic

Party

between

North

and

South. Northern abolitionist

John Brown

's raid at

Harpers Ferry Armory

was an

attempt

to incite

slave insurrections

in 1859.

[22]

The

North-South split in the

Democratic Party

in 1860 due to the Southern demand for a slave code for the

territories completed polarization of the nation between North and South.

Slavery

Main article:

Slavery in the United States

US Postage, 1958 issue, commemorating the Lincoln and Douglas debates.

Abraham Lincoln

16th President (1861

–

1865)

Jefferson

Davis

,

only

President

of

the

Confederate

States

of

America

(1861

–

1865)

Support for secession was strongly correlated to the number of plantations in

the region. States of the

Deep South

, which had the greatest concentration of

plantations, were the first to secede. The upper South slave states of

Virginia

,

North Carolina

,

Arkansas

, and

Tennessee

had fewer plantations and rejected

secession

until

the

Fort

Sumter

crisis

forced

them

to

choose

sides.

Border

states had fewer plantations still and never seceded.

[23][24]

As of 1860 the percentage of Southern families that owned slaves has been

estimated to be 43 percent in the lower South, 36 percent in the upper South

and 22 percent in the border states that fought mostly for the Union.

[25]

Half the

owners

had one to four slaves. A

total of 8000 planters owned 50 or more

slaves in 1850 and only 1800 planters owned 100 or more; of the latter, 85%

lived in the lower South, as opposed to one percent in the border states.

[26]

Ninety-five

percent

of

African-Americans

lived

in

the

South,

comprising

one

third of the population there as opposed to one percent of the population of the

North, chiefly in

larger cities like

New

York and Philadelphia. Consequently,

fears of eventual emancipation

were much greater in the South

than in the

North.

[27]

The Supreme Court decision of 1857 in

Dred Scott v. Sandford

escalated the

controversy.

Chief Justice

Roger B. Taney's

decision said that slaves were

far

inferior

that

they

had

no

rights

which

the

white

man

was

bound

to

respect

[28]

Taney

then overturned the

Missouri Compromise

,

which banned

slavery

in

territory

north

of

the

36°

30'

parallel.

He

stated,

Act

of

Congress

which

prohibited

a

citizen

from

holding

and

owning

[enslaved

persons] in the territory of

the

United States

north

of

the line

therein is

not

warranted by the Constitution and is therefore void.

[29]

Democrats praised the

Dred Scott

decision, but

Republicans branded it a

Constitution. They argued that if Scott could not legally file suit, the Supreme

Court

had

no

right

to

consider

the

Missouri

Compromise's

constitutionality.

Lincoln warned that

Dred Scott

decision

[30]

could threaten Northern

states with slavery.

Lincoln

said,

question

of

Slavery

was

more

important

than

any

other;

indeed, so much more important has it become that no other national question

can even get a

hearing

just at present.

[31]

The slavery issue

was

related to

sectional competition for control of the territories,

[32]

and the Southern demand

for a

slave code

for the territories was the issue used by Southern politicians to

split

the

Democratic

Party

in

two,

which

all

but

guaranteed

the

election

of

Lincoln and secession. When secession was an issue, South Carolina planter

and state Senator John Townsend said that,

possession of

the Government, that they intend

to rule

us according

to the

caprices of their fanatical theories, and according to the declared purposes of

abolishing slavery.

[33]

Similar opinions were expressed throughout the South

in

editorials,

political

speeches

and

declarations

of

reasons

for

secession.

Even though Lincoln

had

no plans

to outlaw slavery where it existed, whites

throughout the South expressed fears for the future of slavery.

Southern

concerns

included

not

only

economic

loss

but

also

fears

of

racial

equality.

[ 34][35][36][37]

The Texas Declaration of Causes for Secession

[38][39]

said

that the

non-slave-holding states

were

equality

of

all

men,

irrespective

of

race

or

color

and

that

the

African

race

rightfully

held

and

regarded

as

an

inferior

and

dependent

race

Alabama secessionist

E. S. Dargan

warned that whites and free blacks could

not live together; if slaves were emancipated and remained in the South,

ourselves

would become the executioners of our own slaves.

To this extent

would the policy of our Northern enemies drive us; and thus would we not only

be reduced to poverty, but what is still worse, we should be driven to crime, to

the commission of sin.

[40]

Beginning

in

the

1830s,

the

US

Postmaster

General

refused

to

allow

mail

which

carried

abolition

pamphlets

to

the

South.

[41]

Northern

teachers

suspected

of

any

tinge

of

abolitionism

were

expelled

from

the

South,

and

abolitionist

literature

was

banned.

Southerners

rejected

the

denials

of

Republicans that they were abolitionists.

[42]

The North felt threatened as well,

for as

Eric Foner

concludes,

to

view slavery as the

very

antithesis of

the good society, as

well as a

threat to their own fundamental

values and interests.

[43]

During the 1850s, slaves left the

border states

through sale,

manumission

and

escape,

and

border

states

also

had

more

free

African-Americans

and

European immigrants

than the lower South,

which increased Southern

fears

that

slavery

was

threatened

with

rapid

extinction

in

this

area.

Such

fears

greatly increased Southern efforts to make

Kansas

a slave state. By 1860, the

number

of

white

border

state

families

owning

slaves

plunged

to

only

16

percent of the total. Slaves sold to lower South states were owned by a smaller

number of wealthy slave owners as the price of slaves increased.

[44]

Even

though

Lincoln

agreed

to

the

Corwin

Amendment

,

which

would

have

protected

slavery

in

existing

states,

secessionists

claimed

that

such

guarantees

were

meaningless.

Besides

the

loss

of

Kansas

to

free

soil

Northerners, secessionists feared that the loss of slaves in the border states

would

lead to emancipation, and

that

upper South slave states might be the

next dominoes to

fall.

They

feared that

Republicans would use patronage to

incite slaves and antislavery Southern whites such as

Hinton Rowan Helper

.

Then slavery in the lower South, like a

itself to death.

[45]

Sectionalism

Sectionalism

refers to the different economies, social structure, customs and

political

values

of

the

North

and

South.

[46][47]

It

increased

steadily

between

1800

and

1860

as

the

North,

which

phased

slavery

out

of

existence,

industrialized,

urbanized

and

built

prosperous

farms,

while

the

deep

South

concentrated

on

plantation

agriculture

based

on

slave

labor,

together

with

subsistence

farming

for

the poor whites.

The South expanded into

rich

new

lands in the Southwest (from Alabama to Texas).

[48]

However, slavery declined

in the border states and could barely survive in cities and industrial areas (it

was fading out in cities such as Baltimore, Louisville and St. Louis), so a South

based

on

slavery

was

rural

and

non-industrial.

On

the

other

hand,

as

the

demand for cotton grew the price of slaves soared.

Historians

have debated

whether

economic

differences

between

the

industrial

Northeast

and

the

agricultural South helped cause the war. Most historians now disagree with the

economic determinism of historian

Charles Beard

in the 1920s and emphasize

that Northern and Southern economies were largely complementary.

[49]

However,

historians

agree

that

social

and

cultural

institutions

were

very

different North and South. In the South the rich men owned all the good land,

leaving the poor white farmers with marginal lands of low productivity. Fears of

slave revolts and abolitionist propaganda made the South militantly hostile to

abolitionism and other

[50][51]

Southerners

complained

that

it

was

the

North

that

was

changing,

and

was

prone

to

new

while

the

South

remained

true

to

historic

republican

values

of

the

Founding

Fathers

(many

of

whom

owned

slaves,

including

Washington,

Jefferson

and

Madison).

Lincoln

said

that

Republicans

were

following

the

tradition

of

the

framers

of

the

Constitution

(including

the

Northwest Ordinance

and the

Missouri Compromise

) by preventing expansion

of

slavery.

[52]

The

issue

of

accepting

slavery

(in

the

guise

of

rejecting

slave-owning

bishops

and

missionaries)

split

the

largest

religious

denominations

(the

Methodist

,

Baptist

and

Presbyterian

churches)

into

separate Northern and Southern denominations.

[53]

Industrialization meant that

seven European immigrants out of eight settled in the North. The movement of

twice as many whites leaving the South for the North as vice versa contributed

to the South's defensive-aggressive political behavior.

[54]

Nationalism and honor

Nationalism

was

a

powerful

force

in

the

early

19th

century,

with

famous

spokesmen

like

Andrew

Jackson

and

Daniel

Webster

.

While

practically

all

Northerners supported the Union, Southerners were split between those loyal

to the entire United States (called

southern region and then the Confederacy.

[55]

C. Vann Woodward

said of the

latter group,

in

the

heart of a thoroughly bourgeois and partly puritanical

republic.

It

had

renounced its bourgeois origins and elaborated and painfully rationalized its

institutional,

legal,

metaphysical,

and

religious

defenses....When

the

crisis

came it chose to

fight.

It proved to be

the death struggle of a society,

which

went down in ruins.

[56]

Insults

to

national

honor

greatly

troubled

people:

Southerners

thought

the

abolitionists

who

identified

slave

ownership

as

evil

and

sinful

—

as

in

Uncle

Tom's Cabin

(1854)

—

were deliberately besmirching their honor.

[57]

Of critical

importance

was

the

attempted

slave

insurrection

led

by

abolitionist

John

Brown

in 1859, which many in

the South saw as the beginning of Northern

efforts to start a race war that would kill vast numbers.

[58]

State's rights

Main article:

States' rights

Everyone agreed that states had certain rights

—

but did those rights carry over

when a citizen left that state? The Southern position was that citizens of every

state had the right to take their property anywhere in the U.S. and not have it

taken

away

—

specifically

they

could

bring

their

slaves

anywhere

and

they

would remain slaves. Northerners rejected this

the

right

of

their

state

to

outlaw

slavery

within

its

borders.

Republicans

committed

to

ending

the

expansion

of

slavery

were

strongly

opposed.

The

Dred

Scott

Supreme

Court

decision

of

1857

bolstered

the

Southern

case

within territories, and angered the North.

[59]

Secondly the South argued that each state had the right to secede

—

leave the

Union

—

at any time. Northerners (including President Buchanan) rejected that

notion

as

opposed

to

the

will

of

the

Founding

Fathers

who

said

they

were

setting up a

states' rights and other non-slavery explanations:

While one or more of these interpretations remain popular amo

ng the Sons of

Confederate Veterans and other Southern

heritage groups,

few professional

historians now subscribe to them. Of all these interpretations, the state's-rights

argument is perhaps the weakest. It fails to ask the question, state's rights for

what purpose? State's rights, or sovereignty, was always more a means than

an end, an instrument to achieve a certain goal more than a principle.

[60]

Slave power

Main article:

Slave Power

Antislavery forces in the North identified the

republican

values

.

They

argued

that

rich

slave

owners

were

using

political

power

to

take control of the Presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court,

thus threatening the rights of the citizens of the North.

[61]

Free soil

be available

to independent

yeoman

farmers and

not be bought out by

rich

slave owners who would buy up the best land and work it with slaves, forcing

the

white

farmers

onto

marginal

lands.

This

was

the

basis

of

the

Free

Soil

Party

of 1848, and a main theme of the Republican Party.

[62]

Tariffs

Main article:

Tariffs in United States history

The

Tariff of 1828

,

was a

high protective

tariff

or tax on imports passed by

Congress in 1828. It was labeled the

[63]

by its southern

detractors because of its effect on the Southern economy. The 1828 tariff was

repealed after strong protests and threats of

nullification

by South Carolina.

The Democrats in Congress, controlled by Southerners, wrote the tariff laws in

the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s, and kept reducing rates, so that the 1857 rates

were the

lowest since 1816.

The South

had

no complaints but the

low

rates

angered

Northern

industrialists

and

factory

workers,

especially

in

Pennsylvania,

who demanded protection for

their growing iron industry.

The

Whigs and Republicans favored high tariffs to stimulate industrial growth, and

Republicans called for an increase in tariffs in the 1860 election. The increases

were

finally

enacted

in

1861

after

Southerners

resigned

their

seats

in

Congress.

[64][65]

Historians in recent decades have

minimized the tariff issue,

noting

that

few

people

in

1860-61

said

it

was

of

central

importance

to

them.

Some

secessionist documents do mention the tariff issue, though not nearly as often

as the preservation of slavery.

However, a

few

libertarian

economists place

more importance on the tariff issue.

[66]

Election of Lincoln

Main article:

United States presidential election, 1860

The election of Lincoln in November 1860 was the final trigger for secession.

[67]

Efforts at compromise, including the

Corwin Amendment

Crittenden

Compromise

failed.

Southern

leaders

feared

that

Lincoln

would

stop

the

expansion of slavery and put it on a course toward extinction. The slave states,

which had already become a minority in the House of Representatives, were

now facing a future as a perpetual minority in the Senate and Electoral College

against

an

increasingly

powerful

North.

Before

Lincoln

took

office

in

March

1861, seven slave states had declared their secession and joined together to

form the Confederacy.

Battle of Fort Sumter

Main article:

Battle of Fort Sumter

The

Lincoln

Administration,

just

as

the

outgoing

Buchanan

administration

before it, refused to turn over Ft. Sumter

—

located in the middle of the harbor

of

Charleston,

South

Carolina

.

President

Jefferson

Davis

and

his

cabinet

decided

that

it

was

impossible

to

be

an

independent

nation

with

a

foreign

military fort in its leading harbor, so he ordered Confederate forces to attack.

After a heavy bombardment on April 12

–

13, 1861, (with no casualties), the fort

surrendered. Lincoln then called for 75,000 troops from the states to recapture

the

fort

and

other

federal

property.

That

meant

marching

a

federal

army

through

Virginia

and

North

Carolina,

so

those

states

promptly

joined

the

Confederacy (as did Tennessee and Arkansas). North and South the response

to Ft. Sumter was an overwhelming,

unstoppable demand for

war

to

uphold

national honor. Only Kentucky tried to remain neutral. Hundreds of thousands

of young men across the land rushed to enlist, and the war was on.

[68]

Secession begins

Status of the states, 1861.

States that seceded before April 15, 1861

States that seceded after

April 15, 1861

Union states that permitted slavery

Union states that

banned slavery

Territories

Secession of South Carolina

South Carolina

did more to advance nullification and secession than any other

Southern

state

.

South

Carolina

adopted

the

Declaration

of

the

Immediate

Causes Which

Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina

from the

Federal Union

It argued for states'

rights

for slave

owners in the South, but contained a complaint about states' rights in the North

in

the

form

of

opposition

to

the

Fugitive

Slave

Act

,

claiming

that

Northern

states were not fulfilling their federal obligations under the Constitution. All the

alleged violations of the rights of Southern states were related to slavery.

Secession winter

The

Union

: blue, yellow (

slave

);

The

Confederacy

: brown

*territories in light shades; control of Confederate territories disputed

Before Lincoln took office, seven states had declared their secession from the

Union.

They established a Southern government,

the Confederate States of

America on February 4, 1861.

[69]

They

took control of federal forts and other

properties within their boundaries with little resistance from outgoing President

James Buchanan

, whose term ended on March 4, 1861. Buchanan said that

the

Dred Scott decision

was proof that the South had no reason for secession,

and that the Union

of

arms

to

compel

a

State

to

remain

in

the

Union

was

not

among

the

powers

granted

to

Congress

[70]

One

quarter

of

the

U.S.

Army

—

the

entire

garrison

in

Texas

—

was

surrendered

in

February

1861

to

state forces by its commanding general,

David E. Twiggs

, who then joined the

Confederacy.

As Southerners resigned their seats in the Senate and the House, secession

later enabled Republicans to pass bills for projects that had been blocked by

Southern

Senators

before

the

war,

including

the

Morrill

Tariff

,

land

grant

colleges

(the

Morill

Act

),

a

Homestead

Act

,

a

trans-continental

railroad

(the

Pacific Railway Acts

), the

National Banking Act

and the authorization of

United

States

Notes

by

the

Legal

Tender

Act

of

1862.

The

Revenue

Act

of

1861

introduced the

income tax

to help finance the war.

The Confederacy

Main article:

Confederate States of America

Seven

Deep

South

cotton

states

seceded

by

February

1861,

starting

with

South Carolina

,

Mississippi

,

Florida

,

Alabama

,

Georgia

,

Louisiana

, and

Texas

.

These seven states formed

the Confederate States of America (February 4,

1861), with

Jefferson Davis

as president, and a

governmental structure

closely

modeled

on

the

U.S.

Constitution

.

Following

the

attack

on

Fort

Sumter

,

President Lincoln called for a volunteer army from each state.

Within two months, four more Southern slave states declared their secession

and

joined

the

Confederacy:

Virginia

,

Arkansas

,

North

Carolina

and

Tennessee

. The

northwestern portion of Virginia subsequently seceded from

Virginia, joining the Union as the new state of

West Virginia

on June 20, 1863.

By

the

end

of

1861,

Missouri

and

Kentucky

were

effectively

under

Union

control, with Confederate state governments in exile.

The Union states

Main article:

Union (American Civil War)

Twenty-three

states

remained

loyal

to

the

Union:

California

,

Connecticut

,

Delaware

,

Illinois

,

Indiana

,

Iowa

,

Kansas

,

Kentucky

,

Maine

,

Maryland

,

Massachusetts

,

Michigan

,

Minnesota

,

Missouri

,

New Hampshire

,

New Jersey

,

New

York

,

Ohio

,

Oregon

,

Pennsylvania

,

Rhode

Island

,

Vermont

,

and

Wisconsin

. During the war,

Nevada

and

West Virginia

joined as new states of

the Union.

Tennessee

and

Louisiana

were

returned

to Union military control

early in the war.

The

territories

of

Colorado

,

Dakota

,

Nebraska

,

Nevada

,

New

Mexico

,

Utah

,

and

Washington

fought

on

the

Union

side.

Several

slave-holding

Native

American

tribes supported the Confederacy, giving the

Indian

Territory

(now

Oklahoma

) a small, bloody civil war.

[71][72][73]

Border states

Main article:

Border states (American Civil War)

The border states in the Union were

West Virginia

(which was separated from

Virginia

and

became

a

new

state),

and

four

of

the

five

northernmost

slave

states (

Maryland

,

Delaware

,

Missouri

, and

Kentucky

).

Maryland

had

numerous

pro-Confederate

officials

who

tolerated

anti-Union

rioting in Baltimore

and the burning of bridges. Lincoln responded with

martial

law

and

sent

in

militia

units

from

the

North.

[74]

Before

the

Confederate

government realized what

was

happening, Lincoln

had seized firm control of

Maryland

and

the

District

of

Columbia,

by

arresting

all

the

prominent

secessionists and holding them without trial (they were later released).

In

Missouri,

an

elected

convention

on

secession

voted

decisively

to

remain

within the Union. When pro-Confederate Governor

Claiborne F. Jackson

called

out the state militia, it was attacked by federal forces under General

Nathaniel

Lyon

,

who

chased

the

governor

and

the

rest

of

the

State

Guard

to

the

southwestern

corner

of

the

state.

(

See

also:

Missouri

secession

).

In

the

resulting vacuum, the convention on secession reconvened and took power as

the Unionist provisional government of Missouri.

[75]

Kentucky

did

not

secede;

for

a

time,

it

declared

itself

neutral.

When

Confederate forces entered the state in September 1861, neutrality ended and

the state reaffirmed its Union status, while trying to maintain slavery. During a

brief invasion by Confederate forces, Confederate sympathizers organized a

secession convention, inaugurated a governor, and gained recognition from

the

Confederacy.

The

rebel

government

soon

went

into

exile

and

never

controlled Kentucky.

[76]

After

Virginia's

secession,

a

Unionist

government

in

Wheeling

asked

48

counties to vote on an ordinance to create a new state on October 24, 1861. A

voter

turnout

of

34%

approved

the

statehood

bill

(96%

approving).

[77]

The

inclusion of 24 secessionist counties

[78]

in the state and the ensuing guerrilla

war

[79]

engaged about 40,000 Federal troops for much of the war.

[80]

Congress

admitted

West Virginia

to the Union on June 20, 1863. West Virginia provided

about

22-25,000

Union

soldiers

[81]

,

and

at

least

16,000

Confederate

soldiers.

[82]

A

Unionist

secession

attempt

occurred

in

East

Tennessee

,

but

was

suppressed by the Confederacy, which arrested over 3000 men suspected of

being loyal to the Union. They were held without trial.

[83]

Overview

A

Roman Catholic

Union army chaplain celebrating a Mass

Over 10,000 military engagements took place during the war, 40% of them in

Virginia and Tennessee.

[84]

Since separate articles deal with every major battle

and

many minor ones, this article only gives

the broadest outline. For more

information see

List of American Civil War battles

and

Military leadership in the

American Civil War

.

The Beginning of the War, 1861

For more details on this topic, see

Battle of Fort Sumter

.

Lincoln's victory in the

presidential election of 1860

triggered South Carolina's

declaration of secession from the Union. By February 1861, six more Southern

states made similar declarations. On February 7, the seven states adopted a

provisional constitution for the Confederate States of America and established

their

temporary capital at

Montgomery

,

Alabama

. A pre-war February

Peace

Conference

of

1861

met

in

Washington

in

a

failed

attempt

at

resolving

the

crisis. The remaining eight slave states rejected pleas to join the Confederacy.

Confederate

forces

seized

most

of

the

federal

forts

within

their

boundaries.

President

Buchanan

protested

but

made

no

military

response

apart

from

a

failed attempt to resupply Fort Sumter using the ship

Star of the West

, which